After all, they are made up of exactly the same notes. Add2 and add9 chords: the add9 and add2 chords are usually considered to be alternative names for the same chord. In C major, the bb7 would be written as Bbb although you may want to think of it as being "the same" as A.ģ. In other words, it is equivalent to the 6th. Diminished chords: the double flat 7th (bb7) is the note two semitones (half-steps) below the natural 7th of the scale. This can lead to confusion about which chord was actually wanted, so to make things clear always write diminished 7th chords as dim7 or o 7.Ģ. In practice, since the dimished 7th chord is much more common than the diminished chord, you may find that dim or o is sometimes used as a "convenient shorthand" for the diminished 7th chord. This allows the diminished 7th to be clearly distinguished from the diminished chord (dim or o ). Diminished chords: the chord symbols used for diminished 7th chords should always include the 7, i.e either dim7 or o 7 should be used. Quick Reference Table for Guitar Chord Spellings Chord typeġ. For the guitar, I think this is the most commonly usedĭefinition of a "bare minimum" 13th chord. People include the 9th and 11th as essential notes - I prefer to list these as optional, with theĮssential notes being 1, 3, b7 and 13. Opinion as to what are considered the "essential" notes. When itĬomes to 9th, 11th and 13th chords, there are sometimes differences of Many chords (although it is nearly always present in simple major and minor chords). For example, the 5th is an optional note in Other notes listed in theĬhord spelling can be considered as optional notes. Notes that are essential in the chord are highlighted in bold. Similarly, the symbolįor sharp "#" is interchangeable with "+". Note that the symbol for flat "b" can also be written as a minus sign "-". My FAQ: Introduction to guitar chord theory gives moreĭetails on how to build other types of chords. (particularly chromatic/jazz chords), but there is not room to list the spellings of all of them. I have included the most common chord types in the table. Spellings are given in relation to the notes of the major scale, i.e a chord described asġ, 3, 5, b7 means you need the 1st, 3rd, 5th and flat 7th of the major scale to build the chord. The table below lists what notes of the scale are needed to create different chords. This page explains how guitar chords are built from different notes of a scale. Navigation: Guitar Chord Construction: Reference Table
Guitar chord reference table - how to build guitar chords - summary of chord types, chord symbols and spellings